# The Plant Men explained — The Gods of Mars

> Chapter companion for The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

## What happens

John Carter, standing on a bluff by the Hudson River in March 1886, feels the irresistible call of Mars and is transported across space once more. He awakens in a strange, beautiful forest on Mars, near an open sea. Exploring, he encounters grotesque plant men—tall, blue, single-eyed creatures with tentacle-like arms—who attack a small group of green Martians. John Carter witnesses the plant men's deadly tactics and realizes he is indeed on Mars, though in an unfamiliar region.

## Themes in this chapter

### Alien Nature and Survival

John Carter encounters the bizarre plant men, whose anatomy and behavior are utterly alien, highlighting the theme of survival in a hostile, unfamiliar environment.

### Illusion vs. Reality

John Carter initially fears he has landed on a strange planet, but the sight of green Martians confirms he is on Mars, blurring the line between expectation and reality.

## Character check-ins

### John Carter

Narrator and protagonist; transported from Earth to a strange region of Mars, where he observes plant men and green Martians.

### Tars Tarkas

Mentioned as the leader who once gathered green warriors to rescue Dejah Thoris; not present in the chapter.

### Dejah Thoris

Referenced as John Carter's lost love and the princess rescued by Tars Tarkas; not present in the chapter.

## Key lines

> As I stood upon the bluff before my cottage on that clear cold night in the early part of March, 1886, the noble Hudson flowing like the grey and silent spectre of a dead river below me, I felt again the strange, compelling influence of the mighty god of war, my beloved Mars, which for ten long and lonesome years I had implored with outstretched arms to carry me back to my lost love.

On a cold March night in 1886, John Carter stood on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and felt Mars's pull, having spent ten years longing to return to his lost love.

_Establishes John Carter's yearning and the setting for his return to Mars._

> The scene that met my eyes was so un-Martian that my heart sprang to my throat as the sudden fear swept through me that I had been aimlessly tossed upon some strange planet by a cruel fate.

The unfamiliar landscape made John Carter fear he had been cast onto an unknown world instead of Mars.

_Highlights John Carter's initial disorientation and the theme of illusion vs. reality._

> Its hairless body was a strange and ghoulish blue, except for a broad band of white which encircled its protruding, single eye: an eye that was all

The plant man had a blue, hairless body and a single protruding eye ringed with white.

_Describes the alien appearance of the plant men._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_gods_of_mars_se/chapters/i-the-plant-men
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_gods_of_mars_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_gods_of_mars_se/chapters